Saturday, November 30, 2019

To Say That The Chinese Communist Revolution Is A Non-Western Essays

To say that the Chinese Communist revolution is a non-Western revolution is more than a clich. That revolution has been primarily directed, not like the French Revolution but against alien Western influences that approached the level of domination and drastically altered China's traditional relationship with the world. Hence the Chinese Communist attitude toward China's traditional past is selectively critical, but by no means totally hostile. The Chinese Communist revolution, and the foreign policy of the regime to which it has given rise, have several roots, each of which is embedded in the past more deeply than one would tend to expect of a movement seemingly so convulsive. The Chinese superiority complex institutionalized in their tributary system was justified by any standards less advanced or efficient than those of the modern West. China developed an elaborate and effective political system resting on a remarkable cultural unity, the latter in turn being due mainly to the general acceptance of a common, although difficult, written language and a common set of ethical and social values, known as Confucianism. Traditional china had neither the knowledge nor the power that would have been necessary to cope with the superior science, technology, economic organization, and military force that expanding West brought to bear on it. The general sense of national weakness and humiliation was rendered still keener by a unique phenomenon, the modernization of Japan and its rise to great power status. Japan's success threw China's failure into sharp remission. The Japanese performance contributed to the discrediting and collapse of China's imperial system, but it did little to make things easier for the subsequent successor. The Republic was never able to achieve territorial and national unity in the face of bad communications and the widespread diffusion of modern arms throughout the country. Lacking internal authority, it did not carry much weight in its foreign relations. As it struggled awkwardly, there arose two more radical political forces, the relatively powerful Kuomintang of Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek, and the younger and weaker Communist Party of China (CPC ). With indispensable support from the CPC and the Third International, the Kuomintang achieved sufficient success so it felt justified in proclaiming a new government, controlled by itself, for the whole of China. For a time the Kuomintang made a valiant effort to tackle China's numerous and colossal problems, including those that had ruined its predecessor : poor communications and the wide distribution of arms. It also took a strongly anti-Western course in its foreign relations, with some success. It is impossible to say whether the Kuomintang's regime would ultimately have proven viable and successful if it had not been ruined by an external enemy, as the Republic had been by its internal opponents. The more the Japanese exerted preemptive pressures on China, the more the people tended to look on the Kuomintang as the only force that prevent china from being dominated by Japan. During the Sino-Japanese war of 1937, the Kuomintang immediately suffered major military defeats and lost control of eastern China. It was only saved from total hopelessness or defeat by Japan's suicidal decision to attack the United States and invasion of Southeastern Asia. But military rescue from Japan brought no significant improvement in the Kuomintang's domestic performance in the political and economic fields, which if anything to get worse. Clearly the pre-Communist history of Modern China has been essentially one of weakness, humiliation, and failure. This is the atmosphere in which the CPC developed its leadership and growth in. The result has been a strong determination on the part of that leadership to eliminate foreign influence within China, to modernize their country, and to eliminate Western influence from eastern Asia, which included the Soviet Union. China was changing and even developing, but its overwhelming marks were still poverty and weakness. During their rise to power the Chinese Communists, like most politically conscious Chinese, were aware of these conditions and anxious to eliminate them. Mao Tse-tung envisioned a mixed economy under Communist control, such as had existed in the Soviet Union during the period of the New Economic Policy. The stress was more upon social justice, and public ownership of the "commanding heights" of the economy than upon development. In 1945, Mao was talking more candidly about development, still within the framework of a mixed economy under Communist control, and stressing the need for more heavy industry; I believe because he had been impressed by the role of heavy industry in determine the outcome of World War II. In his selected works he said "that the necessary capital would come mainly from the accumulated wealth of the Chinese people" but latter added "that

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Nan Goldin photography Essay Example

Nan Goldin photography Essay Example Nan Goldin photography Paper Nan Goldin photography Paper Lesbians, transvestites, gays oh my! Pictures taken in most untraditional candid manner, is what surfaced my interest towards the work of the photographer, Nan Goldin. Colour photography is at times prejudiced against, and not seen as valuable in comparison to black and white photography. Nan Goldin proves everyone wrong with her radical, colour photographic material. Coming across Goldins series of work, I have come to realize that her photographs bare her gift for friendships, do not avoid the truth, and the only thing she desires from her subjects is to be nothing but themselves. It is not a matter of how far a photographer is willing to go, but how they go about achieving some form of success. Nan Goldin is the type of a photographer, who through gained friendships, found a way to gain peoples trust in order to capture their most private moments. As is the case with the photograph titled Cookie pissing, Sorrento-1996, where we see a side-view angle of one of Goldins close friends, literally urinating while standing up. At first glance, the side-view angle of the model creates an impression for it to be merely a candid picture. Taking a closer look, one begins to see the visible atmosphere, created by the technique purposefully lacking editorship. With an introductory picture of a clothed Siobhan on the street, Boston -1989, Goldins female friend reappears though this time, nude in the picture titled Siobhan in the shower, NYC-1991. In the photograph, Siobhan is shown in the shower, waist up with her hands extended upward, revealing the nature of her unshaved under-arm hair. The woman in this particular picture, although slightly intimidated by her revealing pose, seems trusting towards the photographer. This interaction between Siobhan and Goldin is clearly revealed within the Siobhan series, in the following picture titled Self-portrait in bed with Siobhan, NYC-1990. The warm tone set by the bed lamp works to enhance the intimate moment between the two women. Captured from above, all that the viewer sees is Siobhans naked back and Goldin lying underneath her, tenderly gazing at her female lover. Goldin appears oblivious of the surroundings, as she is completely absorbed with her partner. However, Siobhans crouching position over Goldin can signify her assertiveness in the relationship. Goldin was known to embrace relationships with women, not to mention past friendships with transvestites. Love is another major theme found within her series of intimate moments between couples. One of the heterosexual couples, exceptionally simple yet captivating, is Rise and Monty kissing, NYC-1988. Here, we have a close up of a man seating on a sofa, legs outstretched, kissing a woman sitting almost on top of him. The lighting is almost non-existent, but that is of no matter to the couple, completely engrossed with each other. Unlike in the Self-portrait in bed with Siobhan, NYC-1990, the full body contact captured between Rise and Monty, suggests mutual love as well as mounting desire for one another. Goldins approach towards taking photographs unveils her gift for creating friendships, -which in the end- is a factor that helps to distinguish her content of work as most innovative and in your face. Goldin has a knack at sensing, working, and making deep inner emotions come alive on film. It is difficult to work with such subject matter, and proves to be quite a task when dealing with the theme of death. Dealing with narcotics, and groups of close friends who are of dying of AIDS, Goldin captures their significant events prior to their death. One example is that of Cookie and Vittorios Wedding, NYC-1986, the couple is minutes away from being proclaimed Husband and wife. The angle is quite interesting, as all that is shown of the priest is his hand, giving the ring to the bride. It almost suggests for the viewer to participate in filling in, for the unknown figure of the priest. In this photo, Goldin is using flash because -as she was once quoted- she wants to absorb the beauty of the captured moment. With short-lived happiness, three years later we see Cookie at Vittorios casket, NYC-1989. In this funeral setting, Goldin decides to use a red filter in order to capture the sadness as well as the cause of Vittorios death, namely -AIDS. It would almost seem like the attention is taken away, from the man lying in the white casket onto Cookie, as it is she, who is in full focus of the lens. This works, as it unveils Cookies look of concern, about her own state of health. Goldin beautifully concludes the story behind Cookie with the picture titled, Cookie in her casket, NYC-1989. Dimmed lighting, red filter, the shimmer of the inner lining of the casket, was all that was necessary to produce a distinctly serene image of a dead Cookie. The attention partially taken away is by the reflection of the sown on yellowish cross on her dress. The balance is found within sparkling lights near the casket. With the camera framing the upper body, there are many flowers enhancing the calm mood, as they encircle the face as well as the body. All throughout this, while trying to reveal pain of dying, Goldin comes upon equally painful challenge, although this time it revolves around her. The cool atmosphere found in Nan with Brian in bed, NYC-1983 juxtaposes the warm tone brought on by the invisible to the viewer lamp. The picture contains Goldin lying on her side, somewhat reserved, looking at the man sitting beside her. He on the other hand, is shown waist up, shirtless; indifferent to Goldins presence; all the while smoking a cigarette. Taking his long drag of the cigarette, Brian looks somewhat lost in thoughts, but definitely keeping cool composure to that of Nan Goldin, somewhat clutching the bed sheet in fright, shifting the mood of this picture to that of progressive anxiety for her well-being. Pursuing to capture her life as it is, and not more or less (Kawachi 9), she reveals the end results of her relationship with Brian in Nan one month after being battered-1984. Here, the background consists of grayish harshness of the wall versus the softness of the delicate design, of a transparent window curtain. Although battered, she does not avoid the camera to reveal the true nature, of her abusive relationship. Beyond the evident marks of agony, she is wearing bright-red lipstick, a pearl necklace, as well as a pair of earrings. Deliberate use of a nearby lamp accompanied with the camera flash, clearly does justice in creating the right atmosphere. The faces of the people in her photographs tell a story, Goldin herself contributes to, as either its creator or a performer. What confirms her style as exceptionally captivating, is the idea to never avoid the truth, instead, capture it in its entire context. Through her models it is apparent that she does not discriminate or care whether anyone is not perfect. Relatives, friends, strangers all play a particle of her daily life, wherever that may be. The profiles entering her lens in Jimmy Paulette and Tabboo! in the bathroom, NYC -1991 narrate a story within a story. Even though Jimmys back is turned to us, Tabboo does an excellent job in conveying a message with both his body language as well as the tone of his face. Around the back of Jimmys neck there is a clasp to what could be an evening dress. Tabboo on the other hand, is adorned with eye-make up, only to suggest that both men are drag queens. The sensual manner, with which Tabboo touches Jimmys shoulder, captures the unreserved feeling a man may have for another man. The sincerity of this moment relies on Tabboos face, urging some compassionate understanding from the viewer. Body language also works in the photograph titled Gilles and Gotscho at home, Paris-1992. It is equally worth noting, as being able to fully capture human emotion. Without a real sense of the background, the viewers gaze is automatically met with that of two men looking directly at the camera. Sitting in their apartment, Gotscho seems to be the more assertive of the two men but the type of a shirt he is wearing, is ridiculing that assertiveness. To Goldin such details are insignificant, as what interests her, is the captivating tone of Gotschos face. Goldin frames the two men, while at the same time she remains true to her manner in excluding the details of the background. Daylight lighting works to enhance Gotschos muscular shoulders, without making them overbearing. Goldins has distinguished herself from other photographers because of her way of capturing all that she sees as beautiful. Her unique style of photography is never forced or directed. With no direction from the photographer the inspiring image takes on its own life. The photographer is only there to capture the beauty of the moment. The subject is what makes the photographers job hard, for they must decide how to best capture the moment from the best possible angle and light. Goldin had a natural talent and vision. She could look through the camera lens and make images that would later come alive on paper. Photographs move people to tears, anger, and frustration. Goldin did what no photographer could do; She captured intimate human emotions through the use of her camera.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Whats the Lowest SAT Score Possible How Many Get It

What's the Lowest SAT Score Possible How Many Get It SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you embarrassed of your SAT score, or think it’s pretty low? Chances are it isn’t even close to the lowest possible SAT score. In this post, we’ll reveal how rare the lowest possible SAT score is, the lowest scores we have seen, and how to improve on the test, regardless of what your currentscore is. What Is the Lowest SAT Score? On the Redesigned SAT, the lowest possible score is a 400: 200 on Evidence-Based Reading and Writing and 200 on Math. The lowest possible SAT score on the old SAT was a 600 composite, which could only be earned with scores of 200 on the Critical Reading, Math, and Writing sections. While there is no data yet on the Redesigned SAT, we know from data on the old SAT that the lowest possible score is extremely rare. Only 374 people got a 600 on the SAT in 2014 – even fewer than a perfect 2400! The SAT is scaled so that the average score is about a 1500 old/1000 redesigned, or 500 per section. The bottom 25% of scorers have about a 1270 old/850 redesigned or lower. Any score below an 1100 old/750 redesigned is rare – only 10% of test-takers score that low. So odds are, even if you have a low score, it’s not the very lowest possible! In fact, it’s incredibly difficult to get a 600 old/400 redesigned SAT composite score. How Do You Get the Lowest Score on the SAT? It’s harder to get a 600 old/400 redesigned than you might think. Even if you guess on every question, you’ll probably get higher than the lowest possible score. Why? Assuming you really don’t know anything and guess on each question, odds are you will guess correctly 25% of the time, since there are four answer choices. And it turns out that getting 25% of SAT questions right gets you a score above the lowest possible! Even Jon Snow, who knows nothing, would probably score higher than a 400 on the SAT. The SAT is scored by translating your raw score (the total amount of questions you get right) into a scaled score. For more on this process, check out our scoring guide. On the Redesigned SAT, a Reading raw score with 25% of the questions correct is a 13. A Writing raw score with 25% of the questions correct is an 11. After combining these, your final Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score would be around 350 low, but far from the lowest possible score of 200. A Math 25% raw score is about a 14, which would net approximately a 380 final score. If you add up these two scores, you would get a 730 composite – low, but far from the lowest! So you would have to have very bad luck or be deliberately trying to get a low score to get a 200 on each section for a 400 composite on the Redesigned SAT. You need a raw score of 1 or lower on each section to get a scaled score of 200 on the Redesigned SAT, which means you basically have to get every single question wrong. So even if you just give up on the test and fill in every answer bubble with a "C," you'll definitely get more than 1 raw point on each section, and thus get a higher score than a 400. On the old SAT, getting the lowest possible score was actually pretty complicated. Since the old SAT had a guessing penalty, you needed a negative raw score on each section to get the lowest possible score. That meant you could sleep through the test, leave all of the answers blank, get a raw score of 0, and still get about 210-220 per section, which was higher than the lowest possible score. On the Redesigned SAT, however, leaving the test blank and taking a nap will result in the lowest possible score, since you would get a raw score of 0. This means getting a 200 on each section of the old SAT was surprisingly tricky. You could have skipped most of the questions but answered 8 incorrectly to get a -2 raw score. Or, of course, you could have gotten every single problem wrong and gotten a raw score below a -2, and thus received a 200 section score. You can actually read about one man’s attempt to get the lowest possible score on the old SAT here. Note that he had to know the SATquite wellto accomplish this â€Å"feat.† Want to learn more about the SAT but tired of reading blog articles? Then you'll love our free, SAT prep livestreams. Designed and led by PrepScholar SAT experts, these live video events are a great resource for students and parents looking to learn more about the SAT and SAT prep. Click on the button below to register for one of our livestreams today! What Are the Lowest Scores You’ve Seen? At PrepScholar, we work with everyone from high-scorers, trying to close the last 100-point gap to a perfect score, to students who struggle with standardized tests and want lots of extra help. On the old SAT, we’ve seen scores as low as 900 (around 300 in each section), but gotten them up to the 1300 range, which gets them into the top 75% of scorers. How do we do this? There are two main ways to improve a low score: fill content gaps and improve test-taking strategy. If you’re scoring in the 300s, there is probably content on the SAT you simply don’t know. Whether you struggle with vocabulary, geometry, grammar rules, or all of the above, not knowing major concepts can seriously hamper you on the SAT. That said, even if you know the content, struggling with test-taking can lower your score, too. Just because it's multiple choice doesn't mean it's easy. Time management, process of elimination, smart guessing, and familiarity with the test are all factors that can make or break your score. A student who is able to manage their time and answer 40 out of 58 math questions will get a better score than a student who gets stuck on a single problem, loses time, and only answers 30 math questions by the end of the test. Also, knowing how to eliminate wrong answers can raise your odds of getting a question right from 25% to 50%. Process of elimination is an important strategy! Sound like there’s a lot to learn? There is, but it’s very manageable to make big SAT score leaps, especially if you have the best resources. How Can I Improve My Score? The key to a higher SAT score is fixing your weaknesses, practicing with quality questions, and learning test-taking strategy. With PrepScholar, we will create a custom program for you based on your weaknesses. We will fill your content gaps and get you on track for a higher score. Basically, we take the hard part out of SAT studying – analyzing your weak spots – and give you more time to practice. You can also study on your own with prep books and a study schedule. Remember to block your SAT prep time into your schedule like it’s a class or a sport – you have to put in the time to see a difference. Finally, you can see if your school has an SAT prep class, study sessions, or other free resources to take advantage of. This can help you make time for SAT studying each week. If you commit dedicated time to studying, and use the best resources, you are guaranteed to see an improvement in your score. Even you, Jon Snow. What’s Next? Learn more about average SAT scores by state to learn just how good or bad your score is. So what’s a good SAT score? An amazing one? See our guide to the best SAT scores, based on which colleges you are aiming for. Thinking about giving the ACT a try instead? See our guide to which test is easiest, and which one you will do the best on. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Crowdsourcing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Crowdsourcing - Essay Example Most studies done on crowdsourcing have focused more on the quality of results and throughput with very or no attention on efficiency or the tradeoff therein. This is because; the number of tasks to be performed is usually very small. Additionally, the tasks performed by users are also small, and as a result, the techniques employed to guarantee result quality and scale the tasks that arise, does not tackle the aspect of efficiency. This paper aims at evaluating existing result-improvement mechanism, and proposes a novel technique that is independent of task complexities and size, but ensures efficiency and a tradeoff between quality of results and efficiency. Keywords: Efficiency; Throughput; Result Quality; Crowdsourcing; Data INTRODUCTION Crowdsourcing is very popular and has become very important for data collection-labeled data- that are dependent on human input to ensure quality of data as demonstrated by reCAPTCHA, Amazon Mechanical Turk, ESP game, and Netflix among others. Cr owdsourcing is the distribution of small chunks of large, complicated tasks to a large community of users over the internet who offers small contributions towards solving or offering a solution (Brabham 2008). In addition to data labeling, crowdsourcing has been utilized in double keying individual words, image labeling, word disambiguation and grading of word pairs that depict relatedness (Sautter & Bohm 2011). There are a number of challenges that arise from crowdsourcing including lack of guarantees for correctness with regards to human inputs. This can be as a result of accidental mistakes resulting from misjudgment or sloppiness. Sometimes, users may cheat to increase their chances of receiving a reward by cheating to reduce their effort. These challenges require development of crowdsourcing techniques that can ensure data quality, efficiency, counter errors, work with very large data sets, and yield high throughput. Previous studies and crowdsourcing mechanisms such as r-Redun dancy, have focused more on working with large tasks, countering errors, yielding high throughput and ensuring data quality (Eckert et al. 2010). This study, however, proposes novel techniques that are independent of task complexities and size but ensure efficiency and enables tradeoff between quality of results and efficiency. THE NEED FOR EFFICIENT CROWDSOURCING TECHNIQUES FOR COMPLEX TASKS Crowdsourcing mechanisms such as r-Redundancy, have focused more on working with large tasks, countering errors, yielding high throughput and ensuring data quality. They have assumed that most users offer meaningful and correct inputs. These mechanisms have ensured data quality, even in the presence of dishonesty, cheating and inability but do not discourage such a behavior (Wauthier & Jordan 2011). Therefore, a mechanism that probes users, is required, one that would not only ensure quality and high throughput, but ensure efficiency, as well. OVERVIEW OF EFFICIENT CROWDSOURCING TECHNIQUES FOR COMPLEX TASKS There are crowdsourcing techniques that combine error countering, data quality enforcement, and large tasks handling. v-Voting is one such mechanism that mostly focuses on countering errors (Alonso et al. 2008). It reduces the required number of inputs unlike r-Redundancy by obtaining inputs from different users and combining them to the final result. There is also Vote Boosting, which is a mechanism that builds on v-Voting to increases throughput

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Commodities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Commodities - Essay Example The immeasurable significance accorded to oil, in all the forms it occurs, by political empires can be traced to as early as the first decade of the 20th century when governments started showing interest in private oil companies. On behalf of the British government, Winston Churchill proposed a bill to the House of Commons in 1914 that sought to acquire a 51% controlling stake in the Anglo-Persian oil company at a cost of  £2.2 million. A hidden motive can be seen in this move because the acquisition agreement further stated that the government would install two directors in the company that would have no hand in commercial activities. Rather, their only role would be to sanction political matters and those relating to Admiralty oil contracts. Fuel oil prices were already rising occasioned by the rising need of an industry that relied on oil-powered propulsion. It was the view of some members of the House of Commons that the cause of the price increase was a new special use found f or oil, and not some rings or trusts, which was also contributing to its shortage. From the notion of a new and special use being discussed in the House, one can easily link oil to politics. It was soon established that the â€Å"use† was in the form of other countries stocking up on fleets of oil tankers in case of war. From history, we learn that Britain had an abundance of coal at the beginning of the 20th century, but no oil reserves had been discovered within it by that time. It then becomes apparent that the decision to acquire private oil companies was informed by the technological advancements of the Anglo-German maritime prowess. Only oil, and not coal, could provide the edge crucially required in terms of resilience and speed to assist the British maintain the naval supremacy that the Germans were so relentlessly working towards. Here, it can be seen how oil had become a key strategic commodity in national policy. While the Anglo-Persian deal assured the firm a vari ety of secure markets and capital, it, more significantly, provided a steady oil supply to the British government and guaranteed its survival, albeit only for a foreseeable future. This is further confirmed by Churchill’s revelation that the acquisition’s objective was to keep the navy prepared. A critical examination of that objective brings to light the fact that the precedence of investing oil in national security over a flourishing market was legitimized just before WWI. This is even strengthened by the way advocates of national security within the British government supported the limiting of oil in the market. Moving toward WWII, it is apparent that it was an affair between industrial powers. Therefore, nations that had no oil were greatly disadvantaged. For

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Racial Ethnic And Religious Profiling in the U.S. Essay Example for Free

Racial Ethnic And Religious Profiling in the U.S. Essay In the United States, ‘The land of the Free’, racial profiling of minority groups seems all too common. Many Americans believe that law enforcement as well as many other people often discriminates on minority groups simply because of their color of their skin. Civil rights activist and many leaders of minority groups are pressuring Enforcement agencies to eliminate racial and ethnic profiling during traffic stops and supposed random pedestrian stops. However, many law enforcement representatives claim that the complaints about these activities are overstated and are simply in the heads of the accusers. As a nation with a history of racial slavery and racial segregation, particularly towards any group that is not Anglo-American or fair skinned, African-Americans have long complained of racial profiling. Although racial slavery has been over for over one hundred years, and segregation that ended over fifty years ago, there is still tension between many people over race. Hispanics and Muslims are two other ethnic groups that feel the racial profiling, often being suspected of being terrorists or being illegal immigrants. Racial profiling is not a new subject in America. Racial profiling dates back to the colonial days in America. The revolutionary era there was religious profiling of Quakers because they were seen as being unfaithful to the revolution. African Americans have been racially profiled since the days of Slavery. Mexicans and Latinos have been scrutinized and called out by law enforcement since around the time Texas gained its independence. 19th century immigration laws created ethnic and racial profiling against Asians and southern and eastern Europeans. In August of 1777 the Continental Congress ordered the arrests of multiple Quakers that were supposedly disloyal to the Revolution. The Continental Congress had no evidence, and there were no trials. Many of the prisoners were exiled to a Virginia jail. The captives were released from the imprisonment because of pleas from their families and from a few political leaders. During the Pre-Civil War era African-Americans made up about one sixth of the country’s population. The majority of those African-Americans were slaves, with the majority of them slaves in the South. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 had only a few things that protected actual free African-Americans. Slave hunters could legally capture the slaves that were able to escape. Free African-Americans had almost no immunity from being captured and treated as if they were runaway slaves. The new movie â€Å"12 Years a Slave† that recently came out in theatres shows how a free black man could be captured and sold into slavery without being able to prove their freedom, because of profiling any African-American as a slave. The end of slavery did not end the profiling of African-Americans. The Jim Crow era made segregation legal and seemingly right because of laws. The Jim Crow laws reinforced the belief that African-Americans were inferior to whites. Any African-Americans accused of committing a crime could be subject to unjust treatment by law enforcement and even unfair trials in court. One of the most heinous acts of racial profiling was the threat of racist vigilantes. According to the Tuskegee Institute, more than three thousand four hundred African-Americans were lynched from 1880 to 1950. Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were also victim to racial profiling since the days of the annexation of Texas from Mexico. In 1845 the Texas Rangers were formed and served as the nations first statewide police organization. According to the University of Texas’ del Carmen, the Texas Rangers committed many â€Å"brutal acts against Comanche tribes and thousands of Mexicans†. Many Mexican-Americans throughout the southwest United States and throughout most of Texas suffered from the same kind of racial segregation as African-Americans. In the 1930’s nearly 2 million Mexican-Americans were forced and aggressively pressured to leave the United States. In the late 19th century Federal immigration laws portrayed racial profiling by the national government. In 1875 one of the first Federal Immigration laws banned the entry of the country to many undesired Asian immigrants brought to the United States for forced labor and prostitution. In 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act banned all immigration of Chinese laborers. Decades later the United States government put in action literacy tests to gain citizenship that were swayed to only help Europeans and not Asians or Latinos. On February 19th 1942 one of the most well known acts of racial profiling was committed. Under an executive order of president Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president ordered the internment of over 110,000 people mostly of Japanese descent following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The federal government believed that anyone of Japanese descent could be a threat to national security. Hundreds of thousands of innocent honest American citizens were forced into internment baffles me, considering that the government would never do that to White German-American citizens even though the main enemy of World War 2 was Germany. In the late 20th century racial and ethnic profiling became an important issue in the public eye. The African-American civil rights movement embodied the desire of African-Americans to be treated equally socially and under the treatment of law. After the Civil Rights movements, African-Americans and other minorities were being treated more fairly but still falling victim to racial profiling. The FBI and DEA perfected the â€Å"formal† art of racial profiling in the 1970’s. The DEA created a â€Å"profile† for supposed drug traffickers, which targeted African-Americans and people of Hispanic descent. The list of characteristics gave agents the right to randomly stop and search people matching the profile; legal racial profiling. In 1989 the Supreme Court granted permission to use those characteristics as probable cause to stop and search someone. Throughout the 1990’s racial profiling was an epidemic with law enforcement stops in the United States. Statistics show that African-Americans were the great majority of police drug stops. In Maryland during 1995, a man with the last name Wilkins filed a lawsuit against law enforcement to uncover hard evidence that African-Americans were being unfairly profiled. After a thorough investigation of the Maryland law enforcement, a state police â€Å"Criminal Intelligence Report† showed that there was a explicit profile for targeting African-Americans. The investigation actually uncovered that African-Americans were 72 percent of the stops made in the state. After the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001 there was a new group in the United States being racially profiled, Middle Easterners and Muslims. The federal government, as well as the many of the American public became suspicious of anyone of Middle Eastern descent or anyone who practiced the Muslim religion. Although the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful, many people as well as law enforcement began to racially profile them as â€Å"terrorist†. Even African-Americans and Latinos began to scrutinize innocent Middle Easterners. Although President George W. Bush promised to help end racial profiling because it was unconstitutional, following 9/11 the law enforcement began to profile even more than ever. The government focused on Arab Nationals and anyone who could possible have links to the terrorist group Al Qaeda. Immigration Authorities began rounding up hundreds of Middle Easterners for thorough questioning. Although they denied it, Airport screeners began giving special attention to anyone who appeared to be of Middle Eastern or Arabic descent. In 2003 the Bush administration issued a Racial Profiling guideline that stated racial profiling is okay as long as it is related to National Security. In 2008 the Barrack Obama administration and critics of racial profiling began to push for more legislation to prevent racial profiling. Being the first African-American President, it seemed as if times were changing as far as racial profiling stands in the United States. In 2009 the murder of African-American teenager Trayvon Martin griped the nation. The murder was a pure case of racial profiling by a vigilante in a predominantly white neighborhood. Martin’s murder George Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watchman was suspicious of Martin walking around his neighbor hood one evening. Zimmerman armed with his handgun, began stalking Martin and eventually confronted Martin, even though police dispatchers told Zimmerman not to. On Zimmerman’s 911 call he used racial slurs and clearly profiled Martin as a criminal because he was African-American. Eventually Zimmerman confronted Martin, the two got into a scuffle, and Zimmerman shot and killed the unarmed teen. After years of trial, the jury eventually acquitted Zimmerman of the murder charge claiming it was â€Å"self defense† even though Law enforcement told Zimmerman to not follow Martin and Zimmerman did anyways. The Trayvon martin murder is still a current issue that has the nation divided. After doing extensive research on the topic of Racial Profiling in the United States I have learned a lot about how far back and diverse racial profiling is. I believe that there will always be racial profiling as long as there are multiple races living in one country. Racial Profiling is simply human nature and cannot be undone by making laws or legislation. People subconsciously profile individuals based on their individual history and knowledge. People say â€Å"I don’t see color† but the fact of the matter is, everyone sees color. Even the victims of racial profiling are guilty of racially profiling others; whether or not they say it out loud people still think it. The only thing people can do is try there best to not act upon their assumptions of others based on race, and try their best to treat everyone equally regardless of what you may think initially. Its like the old saying, â€Å"Don’t Judge a book by its cover†.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

The Assault: Part 1: Search For Victory :: essays research papers

I am a normal kid, well sort of. Everyone has those different things about them, for example: I fly planes, fence, and can perform geometry in my head. I am also a good shot with almost any type of gun. I am one of the best strategists in my school. Troon High School, the high school of Troon a town just north of Corpus Christi, Texas is one of the only schools in the state to have a fencing team. We have been the highest rated one in the state only the year I have been here. I am the second best, the best being another 9th grader, Drew Davis. Now, it's time to get to the story.I blocked a downward slash, then gave a weak thrust, mostly to give myself time to regain my balance. He moved back about two paces, I had gained ground. He still had one advantage over me, height. He always won using attacks from above. This match had been going on for about ten minutes, a very long time. The next thing he did surprised me, jumping high in the air; his foot came up and kicked my sword out of my hand. He thrust at me, but missed due to a backward flip on my part. As soon as I landed, I tried to kick his sword away, but his blade found the sensor above my heart. "Match over," the new scoring system announced, "Drew Davis wins over Justin Mills.""I'm still better than you, for all of your intelligence," he taunted at me.He always was trying to provoke a fight with me. Next was the self-defense class that our school was making required after what happened in Colorado. I guess they wanted students to be able to repel any future shootings. I personally think that teaching everyone to fight just gives them a weapon of their own. I hurried to class, yet was still late. "Remember," the teacher was saying, "if your opponent is armed, go for the hand. Never let the gun or knife aim at you. The best thing to do is kick the hand with the weapon."The teacher then proceeded to demonstrate the exact technique Drew used to disarm me in my last fencing match. It was almost the time to go to lunch when I heard Drew's voice come over the school intercom. "All students and staff, the school is now taken over.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Organizational Structure Essay

Organizational structure is very important to any company, it guarantees longevity and efficiency. Apple Inc. was incorporated in California on January 3, 1977 (Apple, 2013) and first came on the scene with the release of Apple I. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were the creators of this cutting edge technology and both men were seemingly college dropouts (No Stop Technology – The Apple Fan Site, n. d). The company is a publically traded company listed on the NASDAQ and in 2013 they are number 6 on the list for Fortune 500 companies. Apple Inc. s mission statement is â€Å"Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices. † (About. com, n. d. ). Their mission statement implies that they have a flexible structure that allows for unlimited growth within the technology industry. Structure Apple Inc. ’s organizational structure has enabled the company to keep a barrier free structure and remain competitive. Apple realizes that their expertise is in the innovation of new technology and in order to gain access to many industries they partner with other organizations with different specialties. An example of this is Apple and Nike. Apple took the initiative to create a product for Nike to put into their shoes which allows the consumers to calculate their running distance, keep track of the steps they take, and overall work out progress (Apple, 2013). This is helping them become very diverse and has a constant interest and loyalty among consumers. Other companies like Hewitt-Packard have the same organizational structure as Apple Inc. , by wanting to give the best products to their consumers. In Hewlett-Packards press release in October, 2011, â€Å"Launched in the United States in April 2000, the HP Digital Village program aims to bring the tools for learning and competing in the digital economy to communities that need them most† (Hewlett-Packard, 2011). Being prepared for today’s digital marketplace has given HP an advantage over other corporations that are not prepared to take on the more digital and global economic environment. Another company that has similar structure to Apple is Samsung. They state â€Å"At Samsung Group and Samsung Electronics, we uphold a belief in shared responsibility – to our people, our planet and our society. Across the company, we hold ourselves to the highest standards so that we can more effectively contribute to a better world† (Samsung, 2013). They are also dedicated to developing innovative technologies and being efficient, which allows them to be a digital leader as well. Functions Organizational functions have a role in the development of the company as well as the growth. The different departments that are within Apple Inc. carry a heavy weight of responsibility to ensure that they are consistently driving the company forward. Whether speaking in terms of the retail department, the marketing department, or the human resources department, all have to strive and work to accomplish the goals of gaining profit for the company. Being a leader in new technology has given the company the upper hand on allowing them to have the products free, to use within the business before they are produced at the mass level for consumers. Each product that is produced from Apple has its own team that inspects and maintains the product, which allows Apple to hold accountability for each department and does not allow too many individuals to be involved in the process. This is an example of how divisional structure is involved in an open barrier organizational style. Apple also makes a point to focus on staff engagement level, by having their employees be actively engaged and connected to their work. Employees are given the opportunities to advance in their field and the opportunity to continue to learn new skills within the company. The human resource department is in charge of hiring new employees as well as maintaining the structure of the entire company which is vital to the profitability and the internal organization of the Company. Design Geographical location of the company has been a strong suit for Apple. Apple has over 300 retail stores located all over the world and is continuing to grow based on consumer demand. Apple, Inc. ’s main headquarters are in Cupertino, California, but they also have headquarters in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. By having various headquarters throughout the world, Apple is able to oversee the quality of their products and productivity of retail stores. The number of Apple jobs based in the U. S. has more than quadrupled over the past decade, from less than 10,000 employees in 2002 to more than 50,250 today. They offer their part-time employees the same benefits as full-time employees, including health insurance and the employee stock purchase plan (Apple, 2013). The organizational design of Apple Inc. has been quite challenging to obtain because Apple has very high security when it comes to the internal structure of their company. Apple has to maintain the integrity of their business plan because other organizations would take their ideas and structure and use it to their gain. Apple does everything to prevent this from happening because the technological field is a very competitive market and they do not want to give competitors any insight, which would then result in decreased profits for Apple. Apple’s current CEO is Tim Cook who is in charge of the company’s worldwide sales and operations. Mr. Cook has not always been the CEO of Apple. He was previously employed with Compaq and was the Vice President of Corporate Materials, where he was responsible for procuring and managing Apple’s inventory. This prior experience has given him the knowledge necessary to run such a successful company and the ability to encourage and oversee innovation within the company. Conclusion Apple is a successful company in the innovation of new technology. Apple has the leading edge with technology and has loyal consumers all over the world. It is a company that is primarily known for its products such as the iPhone, iPod, iPad and the MacBook. The company also offers consumers the ability to have Apple create software and hardware specific for a Corporation’s needs. The organizational structure of this organization has allowed for the innovation of products that have changed the world. With these continued business practices, Apple has created an environment with unlimited growth potential and amazing customer loyalty. By being so flexible and diverse in so many different ways, this has allowed Apple to become so successful in such a short time and they will continue to grow into the future. This ability to be a leader in such a competitive market has paved the way for Apple to reap continued profits for many years to come.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Draft for Statement of Purpose

I would like to begin by discussing the core values and ethical principles of Social Work. I came across the core values, according to the National Association of Social Work (NASW), associated with the social work profession, and I discovered the basic values which were listed were also ethical and moral values that I personally would consider as among the most important to consider as a social worker. The NASW listed six core values which included service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, integrity, and competence. I would like to discuss each in further detail beginning with service.The type of service provided by the social worker is highly important and can make a huge impact as to whether there will be a successful outcome or not. The goal in the service provided by a social worker is to do all that is possible to help the individual(s) who are in need and to concentrate on the social problems that exist. It is important to go above and beyond, putting others in front of yourself, and provide the best service. In order to help those in need, a social worker must use their expertise, veneration, and experience as well as focus on the social problems at hand.In fact, social workers are encouraged to volunteer their knowledge and expertise at times provides services with absolutely no intention of receiving anything in return. I personally feel that although there may not be any financial compensation, just the fact that you could apply your skills and knowledge to help an individual, or individuals, is an even greater reward. Another core value is social justice, which refers to the idea of helping people realize that there are ways to improve certain types of living situations. The responsibility as a social worker is to always oppose and develop ways to change social injustice.Examples of different forms of social injustice include situations such as poverty, unemployment, discrimination, etc. As a social worker, attempts to assist individ uals, families, or groups who are particularly vulnerable such forms of social injustice, providing them with the resources and information available as to what options they may have to change their situation, while allowing them to see that, no matter what cultural or ethnic diversity, you are nonjudgmental, knowledgeable, understanding, and sensitive to their situation and will be there to help every step of the way.These are the actions of a truly sincere social worker as they all should be. The dignity and worth of the person is another core value which is also extremely important being a social worker. It is essential as a social worker to always have respect for the innate virtues, significance and self-worth of every person, treating each and every individual equally. However, it is a social workers job to take into account and be familiar with the cultural and ethnic diversity of a particular individual(s) in order to provide the best plan of care.As a social worker, it is i mportant to allow the clients’ to assess their social situation and their aptitude to promote change while assisting them by devising a plan which is significant to the clients’ individual needs. Another core value expressed by the NASW is the importance of human relationships. All people rely on other individuals for acceptance and as a support system when going through difficult times, or when having to make important decisions.As humans, we look for that support from other, therefore, social workers welcome the idea of other people being important factors to the healing, or helping, process of an individual(s). Social workers have realized the importance of developing stronger relationships between people to create a positive outcome and strengthen the well-being of individuals, families, social groups, organizations, as well as communities. The next core value, which I personally have always lived by in my own life, is integrity.A social worker should always act in a trustworthy manner in all situations and to always be aware of and remember the mission of the profession, the values expected to uphold, and those ethical principles and standards associated with the social work profession as a whole. They should continue to practice honesty and be responsible of upholding those ethical practices within the organizations they are affiliated with. Competence is the final core value discussed.A social worker should have the knowledge, resourcefulness, and dexterity to perform the job correctly while always continuing to improve their area of competence as well as strengthen and improve their abilities as a social worker. There is always new knowledge available which can help improve your skills as a social worker. I believe it is the responsibility of a good social worker to always be aware of any new information, theories, and research studies because there is always room for improvement and the more skillful and knowledgeable you are, the better work you can do to really help clients and society as a whole.I would now like to take this opportunity to discuss social work on a much more personal level, as it means to me. When I first began high school, I knew without a doubt that this type of work was what I wanted to do and what I wanted to major in when I went to college. I began with psychology because I was intrigued by questions such as why we think the way we do, or what makes one person turn out this way or think a certain way while the next person can behave completely different. The human brain and how it functioned, in general, was something I was completely fascinated by.And I still love psychology and everything about it, however, throughtout the years, I discovered my passion for wanting to help people in whatever way I could. Although my work experience included many very different types of work, I noticed one commonality between them all which was interacting with people, and helping people in some form or ano ther, and it was something I really loved doing and was remarkably good at it as well. Helping someone who was upset or angry and seeing them walk away with a smile and a whole new attitude made my day.In fact, I will find myself shopping in Wal-Mart and end up helping a complete stranger locate something they were looking for or even assist them in choosing which gift to purchase for a loved one. I realized that helping people just comes naturally to me. Even in my personal life, I was always the honest, trustworthy, and caring friend that my friends would come to when they needed help. My point is that my own morals, values, and beliefs which I live by and grew up with go hand in hand with those six core values every social worker should possess.This is why I decided that returning to school to obtain my master’s in social work was a much better fit for me that simply receiving a master’s in psychology. A career in social work is exactly what I would love doing for a living. When it came time to choose a concentration, I had to make a choice between mental health and family and children services. I once again looked at my own life. I have always had an interest in all areas of mental health. I have seen family members fighting addiction.I personally fought with anxiety, panic attacks, and depression after my son passed away from SIDS the day he made three months old as well as my battle with ADD when I was a child. When I was a teenager, I became very close to this wonderful family whose youngest daughter had been diagnosed with Down syndrome. Her name was Amy and although we were the same age, her mentality was that of about a ten year old. Amy and I became very close and spent a lot of time together for many years.We would go to all sorts of things together but quite often we would attend events where there would be many other children and adults with a variety of mental disabilities. I was fortunate enough to meet many of these individuals a nd their families as well and learned a lot about the many different mental handicaps. These opportunities increased my knowledge and curiosity as well. Therefore, due to my own life experiences, I have decided to concentrate in mental health. As an undergraduate at Southeastern Louisiana University, I learned a lot as far as my academic capabilities.Throughout high school, I never had to actually study or even really try very hard at all to maintain honor roll and stay in Beta Club so it took me awhile to adjust once I started college. I had to learn the best way for me to study and manage my time. Another hard lesson which I wish I would have picked up on much sooner was just how important those â€Å"A’s† were to my GPA. Although I figured it all out, my regret was that if I would have learned just a bit sooner my final GPA of 2. 895 would have been much, much higher!My strength academically is my love of knowledge and learning new things. I just can never get enoug h of that. I am so excited about the opportunity to attend USC to obtain my master’s in social work. After speaking with a few people who told just how great of a school I would be attending made me even more confident that I made the right decision when choosing which online university to attend. I know I made the right choice for my future and am looking forward to not only beginning my classes but also knowing that this is the beginning of the career I have been wanting for some time now.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Project Planning Custom Woodworking Company Case Study

Project Planning Custom Woodworking Company Case Study A project plan needs to have a corresponding proposal. The latter is a summary of the whole project highlighting the tasks to be performed. It breaks down important tasks into stages giving details on the various activities to be carried out and requirements of each task. The project proposal can be used by the management to plan for the project and evaluate its progress. It helps the management to avert shortcomings in the project and development stages (Wideman, 2010).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Project Planning: Custom Woodworking Company Case Study specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Woody’s plan of managing the project was based on the wrong foundation. A project calls for the involvement of all stakeholders at all stages. The conception stage was in accordance with the provisions of project management, but the planning stage was left to one party only, who contracted an external company to implement th e expansion plan. This company had not participated in the development and conception stage, and so did not understand the requirements of the Woody Project. It had not been involved in budget estimation activities and in the determination of the project timeframe (Wideman, 2010). This was a setback to the project’s timeline and budgetary allocations. Lack of planning on handling of human resource for the project was evidenced by the fact that an inexperienced person was given the role of running the project. The professional services engaged lacked proper guidance from the management of Woody’s Company. If I were to be given an opportunity to run the project, I would not have contracted professional services to carry it out. I would have taken charge of the project as I would have been grounded on the project requirements. I would also have incorporated the stakeholders in the various phases of the project. All procurement and other requirements would have been superv ised and ran according to the proposed plan. The project plan had many loopholes, which led to inefficiencies. It did not address the aspect of changes and thus limited the development of the project. Inclusion of contingency plans and control structures to accommodate these changes is important (Wideman, 2010). When room is provided to accommodate the changes and appropriate structures put in place to respond to them effectively, the project development team will be able to analyse these changes and come up with appropriate actions. The team will also be better placed to determine whether the changes are necessary or not.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The final product of the project must be of the desired quality. To understand what quality is, one needs to analyse the project targets. If the targets are met successfully, then this is good quality. The targets of the project can be conceptualised as been SMART (Roberts, 2009: Par 3). The specific objective of the project has to be met and it should be clear and precise. The objectives define the direction of the project, and so a clear definition of the same is the first step in ensuring project quality and success. There should be a measure of the project achievements. For example, Woody’s project, if completed, should have renovated and improved the production space of the company. It would also have added value to the premises. The project objectives have to be attainable (Roberts, 2009: Par 3). They must be within the company’s budget and within a specified period of time. The financial allocation should also be realistic to ensure proper project development and completion. The company should ensure that the team has capacity to deliver the desired output (Roberts, 2009: Par 3). The relevance of the project is also a measure of its quality. The aim of the project should be tied to its objectives. The output needs to have significant impact on the company and worth the cost spent on the project. The allocation of the time period for the project also needs to be in relation to the amount of work to be carried out. Too little time may lead to hastened actions and decisions that may not be good for the project, whereas too much time may be costly. Thus, the timeline has to be right to enable the team achieve the project’s objectives (Roberts, 2009: Par 3). The quality requirements makes sure that the project team is keen when analysing the terms of the project, the time period, costs and allocated financial resources. The project head must ensure that these aspects are put into consideration before embarking on the project. There must be an individual designated to evaluate the quality of the outputs at different stages in relation to desired standards (Roberts, 2009: Par 3). In Woody’s project, Leadbetter lacked the understanding of qual ity of a project as interpreted in project management. This resulted to lack of objectivity in the project, requiring a rewrite of the software codes. This took more time than previously envisioned (Wideman, 2010).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Project Planning: Custom Woodworking Company Case Study specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The project concept is the initial stage in which the ideas of a project are first visualised. This is in regard to observations and requirements. Figure 1: Planning and Scheduling A good baseline plan would have provided an opportunity to change the time and also accommodate the delays in execution of tasks. This would have revealed to the team members the possibility of the project not being on schedule. If activities in the critical path had floats, it would have averted the delays and wastage of extra days that were needed (Wideman, 2010). The cost is likely to amount to $16 millio n. The guestimation is calculated by estimating the costs of the different tasks in the project. The different costs can be presented by the team members to the team leader who calculates a median of the values. After the project is completed, the real cost is compared to the estimates (Wideman, 2010). In this project’s life cycle, costing has not been taken as a factor. The costs have been derived from the different tasks. Mr Cashman had made a guestimation of the total cost and a rough estimate of the same, not exceeding $16 million. With the knowledge on these costs, he was sure that the contracted firm should have a lower price quotation than his figure because his estimates were on the higher side. By filing it away, he made it his own reference of the total costs. This was an opportunity to get the right market price for the project. The other option would have been to involve the contractors in the cost analysis and management process. This would have provided him with an opportunity to arrive at a more reasonable cost (Wideman, 2010).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Woody’s should have contracted different companies for different tasks. For example, the building and construction would have been tendered to a single company, while the provision of materials would have been given to another company. This would have been cheaper and would have enabled the team members allocate tasks without any problem. Contracts are always awarded to companies that have a record of delivering and performing the contracts satisfactorily. The companies need to be vetted by considering their performance track record. The lack of coordination and inappropriate procedures in putting together a project in Woody’s resulted to the failure of achieving the main objectives of the project. The building was completed, more space was availed, but it was not put into proper use. This is due to lack of morale by the staff and also under utilization of the equipment as identified (Wideman, 2010). The deficiencies in the final output were an indication that the over all objective of the project was not achieved. This can be attributed to the improper procedures followed and lack of a good plan in the execution of the project. Lack of experienced project managers was also a factor in the derailment of the Woody’s project. The project failed to achieve the targets set. References Roberts, T. (2009). Project plans: 10 essential elements. Retrieved from https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/project-plans-10-essential-elements.php Wideman, M. (2010). Woodys 2000 Project: Expert project management case study. Web.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Case Studies Of Tea Plantation In Wayanad Environmental Sciences Essay

Case Studies Of Tea Plantation In Wayanad Environmental Sciences Essay Over the past few decades, tea has grown to become one of the most important commodities of India. Tea has become a major commodity in India and is ranked second largest exporter of tea in the world and offers a variety of products from original orthodox to CTC and green tea. Tea is one of the major exporting crops in Kerala. In 2007, the production of tea was 70.287 million kg which accounted for 5.6% of total production in India. The tea is produced in Kerala mainly in Idduki and Wayanad district. The contribution of Wayanad district in tea production in 2007 was 18.8% of total tea production in Kerala while Iddukià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s contribution was 73.3%. After Idduki, Wayanad is the major producer of tea in Kerala. The area under tea production in Kerala constituted about 37137 hectares in 2007 which accounted for 6.4% of total areas under tea growing area in India. Out of this 14.7 production were done in Wayanad district and 74.5% in Idduki district. In the year 2010, the tea production fell by 1.3% over the last year to 966.4 million kg. The tea plantation in Wayanad is done on a very small scale. Most of the organic farming is for coffee. For tea no organic farming is done in Wayanad but good agricultural practices are used which employs limited use of chemicals and pesticides. There are some small cooperatives in Wayanad district where such practices are being adopted. But the production has not been good in last few years. Most of the tea plantations areas are under the ownership of large tea estates like Priyadershi Tea Estate and Arrepatta Meppadi Tea Estate. Tea is a high labor intensive and land intensive plantation crop and requires huge investment. Majority of the farmers are small tea growers and have to depend on large plantations to sell their leaves plucked. Due to fall in prices in last few years, the plantations are under the verge of being lockout. Also the weather condition has not been favoring the tea production. Priyadershi Tea, a g overnment-run estate in Wayanad has been able to increase its production by introducing noon meal for its workers. Under its noon meal scheme it has been feeding mouths of 316 tribal workers, majority being women. The estate was shutdown in 2005 but after being revived in 2007, it has shown improvements in production. Case Study of Organic Farming in Idduki District A local NGO at Idduki district named Peermade Development Society (PDS) which has promoted organic farming in the district has not only confined its contribution at surface level but has provided support in research and technology also. This organization has also provided its aid in research oriented experiments in field of vermiculture and vermicompost. It has set up a modern tea factory. When they introduced organic farming in Idduki district their main objective was to link farmers with markets. The main beneficiaries from this project were small-scale tea producers and their communities. The farming products require timely processing else they lose their worth. Similarly, fresh tea leaves are perishable and must be processed immediately after harvest else they become useless. The market for tea was controlled by big plantations in Idduki area. So, in order to help small-scale farmers with the PDS established consortium that runs its own tea factory and produce organic tea for European markets.

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Edgar Allan Poe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Edgar Allan Poe - Essay Example As Quinn (119) states, at the age of 18 Poe joined the United States army claiming that he was 22 years old and served there for two years. He released his first book of poetry named ‘Tamerlane and Other Poems’, relying on his salaries from the army. However the book got little noticed in the market. Frank (5) illustrates Poe’s biography that in 1829 when he was 20 years old, Poe enlisted in the west point military academy but unfortunately got dismissed just after one year; again in 1831 he moved to Baltimore where his aunt Eliza Clemm had lived. From there, he fell in love with his young cousin Virginia whom he married later. This marriage and thereby increased family obligations influenced him to think about a new income source. In 1833 he won a contest for his story ‘MS found in a Battle’. As described in the article ‘Edgar Allan Poe’ on www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/130 , Poe enthusiastically accepted the post of an editor as well as contributor of the Southern Literary Messenger. Subsequently, he worked with other publications such as Gentleman’s Magazine, Graham’s Magazine, Evening Mirror and Godey’s Lady’s Book; and it was the starting point of his career as an appreciated critic and essayist.